FIFA will allow members of its ruling council to examine key documents relating to president Gianni Infantino's abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) sell-off plan, according to several reports.
The world governing body scrapped the proposed $20 billion World Cup commercial rights sell-off earlier this summer, just days after announcing it, following a backlash that threatened to undermine Infantino's leadership.
Last month, UEFA gave FIFA until November 2 to disclose details of the controversial FFE proposal and respond to more than 100 questions concerning its governance and decision-making process. The demand followed a FIFA Council meeting at which Infantino apologised for the abandoned plan but failed to provide a full explanation of how it had been developed. He instead asked council members to submit their questions in writing. Just hours before UEFA's deadline expired, FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom wrote to council members informing them that they would be allowed to examine "key documents" — but only in person at the organisation's headquarters in Zurich.
"FIFA viewed UEFA's two-week deadline to respond to more than 100 questions as unfeasible, given their recent focus on organising a new youth World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan," a person close to the matter told Reuters. "The organisation is also preparing for an extraordinary congress on November 23 to determine the hosts for the 2031 and 2035 FIFA Women's World Cups. The ongoing legal action in the United States has also created legal boundaries.
"FIFA has maintained it would respond to Council members in due course, and the invitation to view key documents is only to Council members."
Infantino's prospects of securing re-election have strengthened in recent weeks, with the head of Asian football endorsing him for a fourth term. The move has left Europe increasingly isolated in its opposition to the FIFA president.